"Avatar" is on track to be the highest grossing film of all time, but some viewers say it leaves them depressed. Some fans say James Cameron's "Avatar" may have been too real

(CNN) -- James Cameron's completely immersive spectacle "Avatar" may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.

On the fan forum site "Avatar Forums," a topic thread entitled "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible," has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

"I wasn't depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy ," Baghdassarian said. "But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don't have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed."

A post by a user called Elequin expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film.

"That's all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about 'Avatar.' I guess that helps. It's so hard I can't force myself to think that it's just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na'vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie," Elequin posted.

A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site "Naviblue" that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.

"Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it," Mike posted. "I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.' "

Other fans have expressed feelings of disgust with the human race and disengagement with reality.

Oh, please. It's a MOVIE, not a lifestyle. I don't know how it works on Pandora but right here on Earth hunter/gatherer lifestyles are dangerous, riddled with sexual exploitation, and subject to oppressive group conformity. Grow up!

The premise of the movie is simple and somewhat familiar: a white man goes and lives with the "natives", learns their ways and somehow becomes their leader. If it sounds familiar it may be because the theme has been visited in movies like Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves" and last summer's South African sci-fi "District 9" says writer Annalee Newitz on the sci-fi blog I09. Newitz calls the all too familiar plot "a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people."

In films like 'Avatar' she continues, "Humans are the cause of alien oppression and distress. Then, a white man who was one of the oppressors switches sides at the last minute, assimilating into the alien culture and becoming its savior."

Will Heaven of the Telegraph questions why the Na'vi (the blue skinned "natives") wear African jewelry and dreadlocks and are voiced by black actors like Zoe Saldana, Laz Alonso and C.C.H. Pounder. "The ethnic Na'vi," he writes, "need the White man to save them because, as a less developed race, they lack the intelligence and fortitude to overcome their adversaries by themselves."

obx

01-12-2010, 07:08 PM

Who wants to stand outside the theater with me and hand out razor blades and plastic bags?
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expat-pattaya

01-12-2010, 07:13 PM

What do you mean it is just a movie? It is more than that. It is 45 minutes of action packed adventure just crammed into 2 hours and 40 minutes.

I want my money back......... :D

SarasotaRepub

01-13-2010, 08:11 AM

Who wants to stand outside the theater with me and hand out razor blades and plastic bags?

That's evil!! :mad:

Well done. :D Some...no all...of those posting idiots need a slap in the face.

PoliCon

01-13-2010, 10:37 PM

You have to remember that todays kids have been taught to view everything emotionally. They don't know how to think logically and if you try to make them do so - you end up in trouble. I know.

PoliCon

01-13-2010, 10:38 PM

Who wants to stand outside the theater with me and hand out razor blades and plastic bags?

tempting . . . very tempting . . . .:D

Last Samurai

02-04-2010, 01:10 AM

You have to remember that todays kids have been taught to view everything emotionally. They don't know how to think logically and if you try to make them do so - you end up in trouble. I know.

Yep.... It's ALL "touchy feely" now.

We don't prepare them for the vissitudes and setbacks of life, in short, adulthood. Instead we spoil them, do not teach them self control and discipline and we get a bunch of vagrants who's only desire in life is to get the Government to take care of them and support them, just like mommie and daddy.